Apparatus for cleaning the sealing surfaces of coke oven doors and door jambs



W. STANKE ETAL APPARATUS FOR CLEANING THE SEALING SURFACES Dec. l, 1970 OF COKE OVEN DOORS AND DOOR JAMBS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 19, 1969 u/oo FIG.

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v/lamfg United States Patent 3,543,322 APPARATUS FOR CLEANING THE SEALING SURFACES OF COKE OVEN DOORS AND DOOR JAMES Walter Stanke and Gottfried Mertens, Essen, Germany, assignors, by mesne assignments, to Koppers Company, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Continuation-in-part of applications Ser. No. 650,031, June 29, 1967, and Ser. No. 726,112, May 2, 1968. This application June 19, 1969, Ser. No. 834,782

Int. Cl. C01b 43/04 U.S. Cl. 15-93 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cleaning apparatus comprising three co-planar frames: a rst frame is positionable adjacent a surface to be cleaned; a second frame is pivotally mounted to the first frame; and a third frame is vertically reciprocable relative to the first and second frames. Cleaning tools mounted to the third frame engage and clean the vertical sealing surfaces, while cleaning tools mounted to pivotable arms clean the horizontal sealing surfaces under the influence of cams mounted to the third frame that engage the arms and cause them to pivot in a horizontal plane.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-impart of our application Serial No. 650,031, led June 29, 1967, now Pat. No. 3,464,074 and our co-pending application Ser. No. 726,112, filed May '2, 1968, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE `INVENTION The object of the invention is an apparatus for cleaning the sealing surfaces of doors and door jambs of coke ovens by means of reciprocable cleaning tools, which are elastically pressed against the sealing surfaces and are arranged on a transportable supporting frame.

With such apparatus the sealing surfaces are cleaned by a simple scraping effect while the cleaning tools move along the sealing surfaces. It has now been indicated that such an operation does not always lead to the desired success, particularly when the deposits on the sealing surfaces have been converted to an incrustated state by the high thermal effect of the oven chamber. Furthermore, the pasty deposits adhere to the scraper-like cleaning tools and impair their efficiency.

Our co-pending application mentioned previously, relates to an apparatus for cleaning the sealing surface of doors and door jambs of by-product coke ovens by means of reciprocably movable cleaning tools that are pressed against the sealing surface and are fastened on the frame of a tool holder.

One or more vibrators are provided with such a cleaning apparatus, and these vibrators produce an oscillation of the cleaning tools. It has been shown that the cleaning process is substantially intensified by the use of vibrators since the individual scraping edges repeatedly treat one and the same place of the sealing surface as a result of the oscillations. Therefore, incrusted deposits can be satisfactorily removed with this apparatus.

The present invention represents a further `development of the apparatus of our earlier application and consists in arranging a cam plate respectively at the upper end and the lower end of the frame of the tool holder. During the vertical motion of the frame of the tool holder the curved contour of the cam plates act on pivotal arms, which are mounted on a supporting frame and are connected with the tools for cleaning the horizontal sealing edges. Any

desired motion for the cleaning tools of the horizontal cleaning edges can be obtained by suitable design of the curved contour of the cams so that these cleaning tools can also move back and forth repeatedly during one stroke of the frame of the tool holder.

Operation of the tools for cleaning the vertical and horizontal cleaning edges is thus coupled together and, according to another suggestion of the present invention, it is advantageously effected by a lifting piston, which is fastened on the supporting frame and acts in the vertical direction on the frame of the tool holder.

Another provision is that the supporting frame is suspended by means of a universal joint on a frame that is rigidly connected respectively with the coke pushing machine and with the coke guide. The lower end of the supporting frame is guided with a roller. Therefore, the supporting frame is able to execute pendulum motions to a certain extent and to adapt itself to possible inclined places of the sealing surface to be cleaned.

Another provision of the invention is that the cleaning tools for the vertical sealing edges are divided into a number of parts and these parts have a number of inclined Scrapers that are directed upwardly against the sealing edges so that, even in case of eventual saggings of the sealing edges, the entire length of the edges can be treated practically uniformly with the cleaning tools pressed by springs.l The Scrapers consist of suitable spring steel and have several suitable scraping edges, which uniformly treat the to-be-cleaned surface of the sealing edges.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention comprises three coplanar frames that are positionable adjacent a sealing surface to be cleaned. The first frame is a supporting frame. The second frame is pivotally connected to the irst frame; and the third frame is vertically reciprocable relative to the first and second frames. Means is provided to reciprocate the third frame vertically while horizontal arms that carry cleaning tools move laterally so that the tools clean the horizontal sealing surfaces as rollers carried by the arms contact and follow the profile of cams. The vertical movement of the frame causes cleaning tools resiliently mounted thereto to clean the vertical sealing surfaces.

For a further understanding of the invention, and for advantages and features thereof, reference may be made to the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings which show, for the purpose of exemplication, a preferred embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of an apparatus for cleaning the sealing surface of a coke oven door;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section along line II-II of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a side view;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal section taken along line IV-IV of FIG. l;

FIG. 5 is a view, at an enlarged scale, of the lower portion of FIG. l; and

FIG. 6 is a view, at an enlarged scale, of the lower portion of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION As is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2, a first frame 1 of the cleaning apparatus is rigidly connected by means of attachments 2 respectively with the coke pushing machine and with the coke guide (not illustrated here). A supporting second frame 4 is suspended on the pushing first frame 1 by means of a universal joint 3 so that the supporting second frame 4 can execute slight pendulum motions and thus adapt itself to a possible inclined position of the to-be-cleaned coke oven door. Roller is provided on the lower end of frame 1 for a reliable guide of the supporting second frame 4. The roller 5 rolls on guide rails 6. The latter are fastened on an angle iron 7 of the supporting frame 4 so that, if necessary, the position of the supporting frame can also be varied perpendicularly to the roller guide by exchanging the guide rails for those of a different thickness.

A lifting cylinder 8, of optional design, is articulately mounted on the angle iron 7 of the Supporting frame. Its piston 9 acts on a beam 10 of a movable third frame 11 of a tool holder 13. The third frame 11 is thus moved in the vertical direction in relation to the supporting second frame 4 by operation of the lifting cylinder 8, for which purpose guiding rollers 12 coacting with the frame 11 are also provided.

The vertical tool holder 13 is connected by springs 14 with the frame 11 (FIGS. 3 and 4) and a plurality of cleaning tools 15 are in turn fastened on the tool holder 13 by means of Springs 16. These springs press the cleaning tools 15, together with their scrapers 1'7, against the to-be-cleaned vertical sealing edges 18. In the present case, the scrapers 17, which consist of spring steel, are directed upwardly at an angle of about 45 (FIG. 3) and, as is particularly apparent in FIG. 4, they have several scraping edges corresponding to the design of the sealing edges to be cleaned, so that all sealing surfaces can be treated simultaneously. A plurality of cleaning tools 15 are disposed along the length of the vertical sealing edge. This assures that, even in case of any saggings of the surfaces to be cleaned, the cleaning tools 15 are applied everywhere by means of the spring 16, and, therefore, a uniform cleaning of the entire sealing edge can take place by the up and down motion of the cleaning tools 15 and their vibrations, produced by the vibrators 19 arranged on the third frame 11 of the tool holder 13. The stroke of the piston 9 is selected so that it is greater than the distance between two adjacent scrapers 17.

Cam plates 20 are iixedly connected, as by plate members 4S, to both the upper and to the lower end of the tool holder third frame 11, wherefore the cam plates 20 move vertically when the tool holder frame moves vertically under the influence of the cylinder 8 and piston 9.

The cam plates 20 have an irregular profile, as shown in FIG. 5, and a pair of rollers 23 that are mounted to pivotable arms 24 coact with the prole of the cam plates.

Each arm 24 is iixedly mounted to one end of a horizontal shaft 50 that is journaled in a pair of spaced apart bearings 47, 49 mounted to a cross channel member 53 that is a part of the supporting frame 4.

Between the bearings 47, 49, the shaft 50 carries a bushing 55 that is fixed to the shaft and that is yfixed to one end of a vertical arm 57. The other end of the vertical arm 57 is fixed to a frame carrier 59 on which is mounted a holder 61 for a plurality of horizontal cleaning tools 25 that are resiliently biased into contact with the surface 26 that is to be cleaned.

In operation, the stationary cylinder 8 is tluidly actuated and the rod 9 reciprocates the tool holder third frame 11 vertically. In FIG. 5, the tool holder frame is at the bottom point of its vertical stroke. Then, as the cylinder-piston assembly raises the tool holder frame, the rollers 23 follow the curved profile of the cam plates. Since the arms 24, to which the rollers are mounted, are fxedly mounted to the shaft 50, the shaft 50 then pivots about its longitudinal axis and the vertical arms 57 also pivot about the same axis. The pivotal movement of the arms 57 produces arcuate movement of the cleaning tools 25, but such arcuate movement is more horizontal than vertical, wherefore the cleaning tools 25 effectively clean the horizontal surface 26. The cam plate 20 is guided during the Vertical motion of the frame 11 of the tool holder 13 by rollers 22 mounted to the cam plate 20 bi- 4 laterally adjacent to a rod 21 that is mounted to the horizontal member 53.

The cams 20 are designed in such a way that the cleaning tools 25 for the horizontal sealing edges 26 remain in their middle position for a part of the stroke and are moved reciprocatively only during the other part of the stroke. The purpose of this is, that the vertical side cleaning tools 15 will leave the lower region but yet not reach the upper region when the lower and upper horizontal cleaning tool 25, -which are also equipped the same as the vertical tools 15, move towards the outer corners of the surfaces to be cleaned.

Springs 27 are also provided at the top (FIGS. 1 and 2) to support the cleaning tools 15 in an initial position. These springs 27 are fastened at one end to the frame 11 of the tool holder, and at the other end to the supporting frame 4.

As is apparent from FIG. 4, cleaning tools in the form of divided straight scrapers 28 are also provided on the tool holders 13 to clean the door plug 29. These scrapers are also pressed on the door plugs 29 by springs 30.

A heat shield consisting of a number of individual plates is indicated by 32 (FIG. 2).

What is claimed is:

1. In apparatus for cleaning the vertical and the horizontal sealing surfaces of coke oven doors and coke oven door jambs, the improvement comprising:

y(a) a rst frame that is positionable adjacent a coke oven door jamb;

(b) a second frame connected to said first frame;

l(c) a third frame movably mounted to said second frame;

(d) a plurality of first cleaning tools mounted to said third frame so as to engage the vertical sealing surfaces of said door jamb;

(e) an arm pivotally mounted to said second frame at locations adjacent the top and the bottom horizontal sealing surfaces of said door jamb;

(f) a plurality of second cleaning tools mounted to said arms that are engageable with said horizontal sealing surfaces;

(g) a cam plate mounted to said third frame that cooperates with said pivotal arms;

(h) means for vibrating said third frame; and

(i) means for reciprocating said third frame vertically whereby said first cleaning tools clean said vertical sealing surfaces and said arms pivot as said cam plate also reciprocates with said third frame and said second cleaning tools clean said horizontal sealing surfaces.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein:

(a) said first, second, and third frames are substantially coplanar; and

(b) said second frame is pivotally connected to said first frame.

3. The invention of claim 1 including:

(a) a shaft journaled to said second frame;

(b) means securing a roller to each said shaft, said roller being cooperative with said cam plate; and

(c) means securing said pivotal arm to said shaft.

4. The invention of claim 1 wherein:

(a) said means for reciprocating said third frame is a cylinder-piston apparatus.

5. The invention of claim 2 including:

(a) roller means mounted to the second frame for guiding said second frame relative to said first frame.

6. The invention of claim 1 wherein:

(a) each said cleaning tool comprises a plurality of individual scraper elements angularly biased against said sealing surfaces; and

(b) each scraper element has several scraping edges Iwhich coact simultaneously with said sealing surfaces.

7. The invention of claim 1 including:

(a) resilient bias means supporting said third frame from said second frame.

8. The invention of clai-m 1 including:

(a) a shield supported by said second frame and positioned to prevent heat from radiantly contacting said cleaning apparatus.

9. In apparatus for cleaning the vertical and the horizontal sealing surfaces of coke oven door and door jamb structures, the improvement comprising:

(a) a first frame that is positionable adjacent 4a co-ke oven door jamb;

(b) a second frame connected to said first frame;

(c) a third frame movably mounted to second frame said lirst, second and third frames being substantially coplanar;

(d) a plurality of rst cleaning tools mounted to said third frame so as to engage said Vertical sealing surfaces;

(e) a ca-rn plate having an irregular profile mounted to said third frame at respective locations adjacent both the top and the bottom horizontal sealing surfaces;

(f) a shaft journaled to said second frame and mounted at locations adjacent each said cam plate;

(g) a iirst arm xed to each said shaft and supporting a roller that cooperates with the profile of said cam plate;

(h) a second arm fixed to each said shaft that carries a support frame;

(i) a plurality of second cleaning tools mounted to each said support frame so as to engage said horizontal sealing surfaces;

(j) means for vibrating said third frame; and

(k) means for reciprocating said third frame and moving said cam plates relative to said rollers so that said rst and second arms pivot and said second cleaning tools clean said horizontal sealing surfaces and said iirst cleaning tools clean said vertical sealing surfaces.

10. The invention of claim 9 wherein:

(a) said means for reciprocating said third frame is a uid actuated cylinder-piston assembly.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,115,655 12/1963 Bowman. 3,146,475 9/ 1964 Balitzky et al.

FOREIGN PATENTS 6508798 7/ 1965 Netherlands.

WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner L. G. MACHLIN, Assistant Examiner 

